Court upholds verdict favoring Iranian banks in Bahrain
The Iranian Presidency’s legal office said in a statement on Monday that the appeal court in The Hague had issued a ruling on April 22, confirming a November 2021 verdict issued by the PCA that favored Bank Melli Iran and Bank Saderat Iran and their claims against Bahrain, according to Press TV.
The two Iranian banks had claimed in their case against the Bahraini government and its central bank that a decision in 2005 to confiscate the Future Bank, a lender where the two Iranian banks collectively owned the majority of shares, was politically motivated.
PCA arbitrators had ruled in their verdict that Bahrain’s expropriation of the Future Bank, an entity established in the Arab country to handle financial dealings with Iranian businesses, was unlawful.
Bahrain then appealed against the verdict, which awarded the two Iranian banks some 214 million euros in damages, while challenging PCA”s jurisdiction over the case and claiming that Manama’s decision to confiscate the Future Bank had complied with international sanctions on Iran.
However, the appeals court in The Hague dismissed the claims and upheld the compensation verdict issued by PCA arbitrators, the Iranian Presidency said.
Iran took legal action against Bahrain after the High Criminal Court in the Arab country issued a verdict on July 29, 2021, seizing funds that belonged to Bank Melli, Bank Saderat, and the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) and were held in the Future Bank.
The Bahraini court claimed in its ruling that the two Iranian banks had been engaged in money-laundering activities to benefit the CBI and other Iranian entities.
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